This fund honors Samuel Mendel Melton. Melton earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ohio State University in 1923. After graduating, he established an equipment design and manufacturing enterprise, Capitol Manufacturing Co. Active in a wide array of organizations that advanced the study and understanding of Jewish culture, Melton was internationally known as a philanthropist.

Though he had no more than a brief formal Jewish education, he set out with confidence to change the state of Jewish education, even if it meant establishing institutions and footing the bill himself. In 1949, Melton expanded his business to Israel to provide employment for people who had emigrated there after World War II. He retired in 1972.